SAP CEO gets record $19.9 million payday as AI boom boosts shares

SAP SE’s Chief Executive Officer Christian Klein got his largest-ever compensation package, as the boom in artificial intelligence helped send the German software company’s share price to a record high.  

According to a company filing published on Thursday, Klein, 44, received €19 million ($19.9 million) in 2024, up 165 per cent from the prior year. 

SAP shares have risen more than 130 per cent since Klein became CEO in 2019. It became Europe’s most valuable technology company last year, overtaking chipmaking equipment maker ASML Holding NV. The Walldorf, Germany-based firm has boosted cloud sales with a range of new AI capabilities. In 2024, Klein also announced a major restructuring that affected about 10 per cent of the workforce.

Still, Klein’s compensation is small compared to US rivals’ CEO pay. Marc Benioff of Salesforce Inc. received $39.6 million in total pay for the 2024 fiscal year. Klein’s predecessor Bill McDermott, who now leads ServiceNow Inc., earned $37.6 million in 2023.

Median total compensation for S&P 500 chief executives rose by 12.6 per cent to $16.3 million in 2023, according to an analysis by AP. 

Other top SAP executives also got a pay bump — a reflection of the company’s stock performance, since share options form a significant part of their compensation packages. SAP’s market capitalization has reached record highs over the past 14 months, and currently stands at about €335 billion.

Former Chief Technology Officer Jürgen Müller received €7.14 million for 2024. He left SAP in September after what he called “inappropriate” behavior at a company party at the time. He settled a German criminal probe in January over a case of alleged harassment. 

In a separate report on Thursday, SAP disclosed information about internal compliance complaints for the first time, triggered by a new European Union regulation. The company received 999 complaints in 2024, including 107 for discrimination, 362 for psychological harassment and 85 for sexual harassment. SAP said the number of violations it uncovered was significantly lower than the number of investigations triggered by the complaints. 

SAP has been criticized in the past about mishandling compliance complaints, Bloomberg reported in December. SAP said at the time it takes all cases seriously and has robust processes in place.

Klein’s record compensation comes as the company granted an average pay raise of 2.4 per cent to its 24,000 staff in Germany for 2025. This drew criticism from union IG Metall, which described the increase as inadequate in light of the company’s performance. 

SAP sells software for bookkeeping, HR and other enterprise functions, called ERP, or enterprise resource planning.